Free Republic

A federal judge on Friday blocked the IRS from giving ICE the home addresses of taxpayers who might be undocumented immigrants — dealing a blow to the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts. The ruling is a significant victory for immigrant-rights group and liberal activists who are trying to resist the mass deportations that President Donald Trump has made a top priority for the first year of his second term. The Trump administration can appeal the decision, and it has a decent track record this year of overturning lower-court losses. A separate federal judge in a related case previously declined to...

A federal judge on Nov. 20 ordered the Trump administration to end its deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. Trump had said the troops were needed to deal with rampant crime and violence in Washington and support federal immigration law enforcement efforts there. On Aug. 11, the president signed a presidential memorandum, in which he said the local D.C. government “has lost control of public order and safety in the city.” “It is a point of national disgrace that Washington, D.C., has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in...

The first nine months of the President Trump’s second term have seen repeated instances of a Federal District Court judge temporarily enjoining some action of the administration, only to have the Supreme Court stay the injunction while the litigation proceeds. Examples of this pattern of events have occurred in cases involving such things as funding rescissions, staff lay-offs, and deportation procedures. A recurring feature of this pattern has been dissents from the three liberal Supreme Court justices — Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson — who would have left the temporary injunctions in place during the pendency of the litigation. Justice Jackson,...

SNAP food benefits could restart as early as Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday morning. Two federal judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must use emergency funds to pay SNAP benefits, which help feed 42 million Americans, during the government shutdown. Judge Jack McConnell of Rhode Island also directed that these be paid out of emergency funds “as soon as possible.” Boston Judge Indira Talwani gave the administration until Monday to tell her if it will authorize at least reduced SNAP benefits for November. The administration was originally set to cut...

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell has ruled that Planned Parenthood affiliates in California, Iowa, and New York do not have to comply with recent executive orders requiring them to affirm biological sex and discontinue the promotion of radical gender ideology and promiscuity in order to receive federal funding Key Takeaways: * Despite multiple Trump executive orders specifying otherwise, a district judge has ruled that certain Planned Parenthood affiliates in three states do not have to rid their sex ed curricula of radical gender ideology. * The Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program has been shown in the past to have failed to...

The Supreme Court will likely agree with lower courts that ruled President Donald Trump can’t use the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad tariffs, according experts surveyed by JPMorgan. Trade and legal experts said the odds that the high court will rule against the Trump administration are 70%-80% and expect a decision by the end of the year

federal appeals court on Wednesday lifted a judge’s order blocking President Trump from federalizing Oregon National Guard Troops. On Saturday, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, blocked President Trump’s National Guard deployment to Portland. Judge Immergut issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and blasted President Trump’s decision to deploy troops. The TRO will expire on October 18. The judge warned that Trump’s justification to deploy troops to Portland may send the country into a constitutional crisis. On Sunday, President Trump called up hundreds of California National Guard Troops to Portland to circumvent the judge’s order blocking Oregon National Guard Troop...

A U.S. District Court on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the Trump administration from deploying 200 National Guardsmen to Portland, Oregon, amid violent anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protests. The lawsuit, brought by the State of Oregon and City of Portland, argued the deployment was unlawful, exceeding the president’s statutory and constitutional authority. Judge Karin Immergut, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, granted the TRO blocking the federal action.

A federal judge in Oregon has granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard into Portland after the president announced he would send in troops to protect what he calls a “war-ravaged” city. The ruling by the Trump-nominated judge marks the latest setback to White House efforts to crack down on Democratic-led cities it claims are stricken by crime and disorder, often in part by citing the need to protect ICE facilities from riotous protesters. The temporary restraining order expires in 14 days on October 18, US District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump nominee,...

An Oregon federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending the National Guard into Portland, as the city contends with hundreds of protestors at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility. It's a major blow to Trump, who called Portland a 'war-ravaged' city under siege by Antifa terrorists, when he announced last week that federal agents would be deployed there. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, made the ruling after the city and the state sued the federal government. The temporary restraining order expires in 14 days on October 18, Immergut wrote in her order. The Department of...

Conservative law professor William Jacobson of Cornell University, publisher of the Legal Insurrection blog, appeared on the Jesse Kelly show this week and outlined an upcoming Supreme Court case for Trump that he describes as ‘very high stakes.’ The case has to do with the Trump tariffs, and depending on how the court rules, it could have a significant effect on Trump’s economic policy. Jacobson suggests that it could be a very close call. Transcript via Legal Insurrection: Kelly (00:05): The Supreme Court is about to begin another term. I don’t understand these terms. I don’t understand what they’re doing...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it will consider expanding President Donald Trump’s power to shape independent agencies by overturning a nearly century-old decision limiting when presidents can fire board members. In a 6-3 decision, the high court also allowed the Republican president to carry out the firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, while the case plays out. It’s the latest high-profile firing the court has allowed in recent months, signaling the conservative majority could be poised to overturn or narrow a 1935 Supreme Court decision that found commissioners can only be...

The high court will also hear arguments about overturning a 90-year-old precedent that allowed Congress to create independent agencies.The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Donald Trump to fire the sole remaining Democrat on the Federal Trade Commission, the latest victory in his aggressive push to exert greater control over the federal bureaucracy. The justices overturned a lower-court injunction that reinstated Rebecca Slaughter to her position with the agency that oversees antitrust and consumer protection issues while litigation over her removal works its way through the courts. The ruling — while provisional — is significant because the...

A federal judge on Tuesday night blocked President Donald Trump from firing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook as her lawsuit challenging her termination plays out in court. Judge Jia Cobb’s issuance of a temporary restraining order in the case came nearly two weeks after Cook sued Trump to prevent him from removing her from the central bank. "The public interest in Federal Reserve independence weighs in favor of Cook’s reinstatement,” Cobb wrote in an opinion on her decision Tuesday. Cobb’s order enjoins Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the Board of Governors “from effectuating in any manner” Cook’s removal because of...

The Supreme Court on Tuesday paused a court order requiring President Donald Trump to distribute roughly $4 billion in foreign aid that he has tried to cancel through a "pocket rescission," Reuters reported. The order follows a lower court determining that Trump lacked the authority to withhold funding that Congress allocated. The 2nd Circuit on Friday upheld the district court order from Judge Amir Ali finding that Trump needed congressional authority to withhold the funds. “To be clear, no one disputes that defendants have significant discretion in how to spend the funds at issue, and the court is not directing...

US District Judge Amir Ali, a Biden appointee, blocked President Trump from cutting billions of dollars in USAID and foreign aid that Congress authorized. Trump will immediately appeal Judge Ali’s ruling. “President Trump has the executive authority to ensure that all foreign aid is accountable to taxpayers and aligns with the America First priorities people voted for,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to Reuters. Reuters reported:

NBC News reported shocking interviews with a dozen federal court judges who hid behind anonymity to attack the Supreme Court for overturning their anti-Trump decisions, accusing the conservative dominated Supreme Court of undermining the judiciary. This is the latest in an ongoing battle this year between anti-Trump Resistance judges on the federal bench using their rulings to enact their preferred policies and the Supreme Court trying to rein them in under constitutional order. With Republicans holding the White House and both houses of Congress, Democrat activists are using their allies on the federal bench to obstruct and delay actions by...

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration on Wednesday to restore about $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University, despite finding the Ivy League school was “plagued by antisemitism.” Regardless of antisemitism concerns, Boston-based District Judge Allison Burroughs ruled the federal grants awarded to Harvard were unlawfully terminated by President Trump. Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, determined there was “more than sufficient” evidence indicating the Trump administration “impermissibly retaliated against Harvard for refusing to capitulate to the government’s demands.” The Trump administration “specifically and repeatedly linked the coordinated funding cuts to Harvard’s decision to ‘fight,’” Burroughs...

Full statement from Pam Bondi: President Trump found there was a national emergency and took action under the law by imposing tariffs. The judges of the Federal Circuit are interfering with the President’s vital and constitutionally central role in foreign policy. This decision is wrong and undermines the United States on the world stage. The Justice Department will appeal this decision and continue to fight to restore the president’s lawful authority.

Benny Johnson @bennyjohnson 🚨BREAKING: The 9th Circuit has blocked the Trump administration from ending legal status for 600,000 Venezuelans. The judicial coup goes on. From Nick Sortor 1:30 PM · Aug 29, 2025